Following our report on the yellow tint apparent in many iPhone 3G screens, Apple has confirmed that the screen has a warmer look by design. Apple’s senior director of iPhone product marketing, Bob Borchers, said, “We moved the white point in order to make [the display feel] more natural,” noting that customers would likely appreciate a warmer color temperature, particularly when viewing photos.
Ars Technica, however, reports that an updated version of the iPhone 3G firmware — labeled version 5A347 as opposed to the 5A345 version that ships on the devices — changes the color calibration to be less yellow. The 5A347 firmware is not available though the “Check for Update” feature in iTunes, but can be installed by clicking on the “Restore” button.
Update: John Gruber of Daring Fireball reports that a source on Apple’s iPhone engineering team confirmed that there were no changes regarding display color temperature between 5A345 and 5A347, questioning the accuracy of Ars Technica’s earlier report.
.
